A cleansing agent which contains C.sub.8 to C.sub.18 monofatty acid esters of diglycerol and/or C.sub.8 to C.sub.18 difatty acid esters of tetraglycerol in addition to an ionogenic and/or amphoteric surfactant is disclosed in DE-A 39 02 374. This cleansing agent has the following advantageous characteristics: (i) suitability in further processing applications, (ii) compatibility with skin, and (iii) biological degradability.
This agent, however, has the following disadvantageous characteristics: (i) preparation requires a multistage process which is relatively expensive and labor intensive, and (ii) it is normally produced as a solid product. During further processing of the agent, i.e., into preparations, processing difficulties occur. Exemplary of these processing difficulties is the clogging of supply and metering devices because the agent cannot be pumped at room temperature. In order to dissolve the agent, heat and/or strong shearing forces must be applied.
In DE-C 30 41 073, wool wax substitutes are disclosed which are based on ester mixtures composed of 1 mol of a glycerol/polyglycerol mixture, esterified with 0.5 to 1.1 mol of one or more saturated aliphatic monocarboxylic acids having 6 to 10 C atoms, 0.5 to 1.1 mol of one or more saturated aliphatic monocarboxylic acids having 16 to 22 C atoms, 0.0 to 0.6 mol of one or more aliphatic saturated branched-chain monocarboxylic acids having 16 to 18 C atoms, 0.0 to 0.5 mol of one or more saturated hydroxymonocarboxylic acids having 16 to 20 C atoms and 0.5 to 1.0 mol of one or more saturated aliphatic dicarboxylic acids having 4 to 10 C atoms. These mixtures are prepared, inter alia, using dicarboxylic acids in such a manner that crosslinked water-insoluble compounds are formed which possess other chemical and physical properties.
Accordingly, a need exists for a fatty acid polyglycerol ester mixture which can be prepared economically in a simple process and is liquid at ambient temperature in order to facilitate its suitability for use in further processing operations. Further, it would be advantageous if such a mixture was suitable for use in thickening, refatting and skin care applications and was non-toxic and ecologically safe.